Feb 18, 2014

Mumbai: The deadly gap traps at stations claimed the life of one of railway’s own on Monday evening. An IRCTC catering manager assigned duty on the August Kranti Rajdhani Express to Delhi was killed when he fell into the gap between Andheri station’s platform No 4 and his coach.

Witnesses said that the train was already in motion when Aashish Singh tried to board it. He was struck in the head by a metal ladder under the coach, which is believed to have caused his death.

A doctor at Cooper Hospital, where Singh was taken, said that he had suffered severe head injuries and deep cuts near his abdomen. “He must have died on the spot,” the doctor said.

For the past two months, several media has been highlighting the danger gap traps at railway stations pose to passengers. Last month, 16-year-old college student Monica More fell into a gap at Ghatkopar station and was run over by a train. She lost both her arms.

According to an official in the Western Railway, Singh was handling the “VIP catering service” on August Kranti Rajdhani Express. He had boarded the train at Mumbai Central, from where it departed around 5.45 pm. When the train halted at Andheri, Singh got off for some work. Before he could board the train, it started moving. Witnesses said he made a dash, but slipped and fell into the gap.

“It was 6.10 pm when this happened,” the official said. The RPF has sought CCTV footage of the platform to piece together the chain of events.

“Most long-distance trains have a ladder between coaches. One should not try to board a running train as the fall could be fatal,” the official said.